Jacob Van Cullen, the old railroad baggage master and trash man for the Sea Girt company, passed away at age 82.
Richard Crooks, a new resident of Sea Girt made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera. His booming voice moved the audience to an hour of curtain calls. He had starred at the Philadelphia Opera and then had honed his skills in Europe before this great homecoming. NJ Governor, A. Harry Moore and his wife were in the audience mobbing the young man with hugs and backslaps while the orchestra did not allow him to escape. The Crooks was a regular at Eggimans, and enjoyed his home at Beacon and the Ocean, when he wasn’t touring or doing his hit radio show. He was originally from Trenton and had summered at the Shore as a child.
America’s greatest tenor in the 1930s was Richard Crooks with wife Mildred
The Women’s Club attracted several hundred to a performance at the Spring Lake Community House of ’44 Flappers, a drama where the protagonist wakes up in 1944 only to find out men wear women’s fashions and women wear men’s. The play also integrated a fashion show by the Spruce Shop in Manasquan. Alex Hawes was noted for her acting and for coaching the other women of the club.
There were also a growing number of children in the community, and St. Uriel’s supported their meetings and saw them show up on Sundays as well. There were two patrols of Boy Scouts, 18 members of the Rifle Association, 15 of the Senior Boys Club, and 14 of the St. Vincent Guild of Acolytes. There was similar membership in the Girls club and the Gypsy Minstrel singers.
Old Metropolitan Opera House (National Archives)
Sea Girt had its own drama as the term of mayor Ray Nellis did not settle down after shouting down state Senator Frank Durand at a meeting in 1932.
First the mayor was pulled over in Neptune while trying to speed past an accident on his way to a meeting in Red Bank. The head of the Neptune First Aid squad, Claude Lewer asked him for his license. Lewer was also a special officer in Neptune. Nellis noted when shown the officer’s silver badge, “I have a gold one in my pocket.” And then he drove off. He was later fined $25 for reckless driving and failing to show his license.
Then he looked for a formal censure of William Panz, because Panz hired a Special Officer. Chief Panz thought he was within the ordinance because the special was not on duty more than the 30 days required for permission from the Council. Nellis persisted because the hire was not a resident of Sea Girt, and he felt Panz should have sought approval for the short term anyway.
Finally in August, Ray Nellis was driving through Spring Lake when he stuck 30-year-old Henry Sloane, a pedestrian on Third Ave. Nellis said the man stepped out of the shadows, and he was driving around 30 mph. Sloane, a chauffeur for a couple from Spring Lake died at Fitkin Hospital (Jersey Shore). Nellis and his wife followed the ambulance to the hospital.
Fitkin replaced the Ann May Hospital on Vroom Ave in Spring Lake. The women of Sea Girt and Spring Lake were tremendous benefactors of the hospital.
It had to be a very difficult evening for the Mayor. Mrs. Nellis was the Chair of the Hospital Social Service Auxiliary. He drove back and surrendered to the Spring Lake Police. He was released to Chief Panz. He was later charged with technical manslaughter and posted $2,000 bond.
While I could not find the record of the outcome of the case, I was not surprised to see he did not get re-elected in Sea Girt in 1933. It was reported he was a regular on the 5:15 train out of Spring Lake to his job as Treasurer for US Foreign Securities Corp. Edward T. Doyle became Mayor effective 1934.